Levee Repairs

Back in February, Governor Schwarzenegger declared an emergency for the state’s levees. Now, on the cusp of flood season, the administration says the original critical sites will soon be repaired. But the number of such sites continues to grow….

The number of levees eroded to a critical point is a moving target. It started at 24 back in February and quickly grew to 33. Director of the Department of Water Resources Lester Snow says they’ve moved more than 1 million tons of rock and repaired miles of levee…and they’ll finish all 33 by the end of November…. But he points out it doesn’t increase the state’s flood protection:

“Repairing the erosion sites only brings the levee up to the standard that it was before the erosion – so if you have an 89 year levee and you repair it, then that’s what you have.”

The repair price-tag is 195 million – Snow says they hope to get federal credit for much of that. He says they’ve now identified another 71 critical sites, many in the Delta, and work on those will continue through the winter and spring.